PS3 Hacked For Good?

Sony's video game console is now fully exposed.

For a while now hackers have been hard at work at permanently cracking Sony’s PlayStation 3. But so far every attempt has been squashed due to required firmware updates made to the PS3 in order to play games online. However, we might finally have a winner (if you want to call it that). A hacker by the name of Geohot — infamously known around the hacker’s watering hole for cracking the iPhone — has apparently hacked the PS3’s root key, the quintessential component to the console’s security.

If this is true it means that anyone can write an application for the PlayStation 3 and have it run on their console without fear of a firmware update coming along and wiping it out. The hack will make the PlayStation 3 completely open for user tampering without worry of repercussions.

Even though Geohot has cracked and made public the fact that he’s broken through Sony’s defenses, the hacker has been quick to say he doesn’t condone its eventual implimentation for piracy purposes. But he is apparently looking for a job.

“No donate link, just use this info wisely. I do not condone piracy,” said Geohot. “If you want your next console to be secure, get in touch with me. Any of you three. It’d be fun to be on the other side.”

Hacking of the PS3 has apparently picked up since Sony decided to nix the “OtherOS” option in the console’s settings, which allowed users to install operating systems such as Linux on their PS3. When Sony issued a firmware update killing the option, people raged, and hackers took to their computers with white-hot vigor to break Sony’s baby.